KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — In the current political climate, it is no longer possible to distinguish Islamic radicals from Islamic moderates. Despite official boasts about the country's diverse population and commitment to pluralism, Islam and the government have essentially merged.
For two decades, the ruling Umno-led government invested enormous public resources in building up a network of Islamic institutions. The government's initial intention was to deflect radical demands for an extreme version of Islamic governance. Over time, however, the effort to outdo its critics led Umno to over-Islamicise the state.
Umno's programme has put syariah law, the Syariah Court and an extensive Islamic bureaucracy in place, an effort that has taken on a life of its own. The number of Islamic laws instituted has quadrupled in little more than 10 years. After Iran or Saudi Arabia, Malaysia's Syariah Court system is probably the most extensive in the Muslim world. The accompanying bureaucracy is not only big but also has more bite than the national Parliament.
Islamic laws in Malaysia are based on religious doctrine, but codified and passed as statutes by state legislatures. Not much debate attends their enactment, for the fear of being accused of heresy keeps most critics from questioning anything deemed Islamic.
While Umno still trumpets its Islamic advocacy, the party is facing difficult choices, particularly as it wishes to maintain foreign investment in an increasingly polarised environment.
For example, Minister for Home Affairs Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein recently held a press conference to support Muslims who had demonstrated against the construction of a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood. The protesters had paraded a severed, bloodied cow's head in the street, then spat and stomped on it. This offended Hindus, who consider the cow a sacred animal.
Just a week earlier, a young mother by the name of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced by the Syariah Court to six lashes of the cane and fined after she was caught drinking beer at a hotel. Although the caning sentence is still in limbo, Hishammuddin publicised his acceptance of the punishment by inviting the floggers to his office to demonstrate how an Islamic caning would be carried out. They used a chair as a mock target, and left him satisfied that Islamic caning can be appropriately used as a punishment for women.
Ironically, Hishammuddin is far from an Islamic hardliner. The son of the third prime minister, the grandson of Umno's founder, and a cousin of the current prime minister, he is widely considered to be modern, moderate and cosmopolitan.
A true hardliner is Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the Mentri Besar of Kelantan and the spiritual leader of the largest Islamist party, PAS, which now controls two state governments. However, Nik Aziz opposed the anti-Hindu protest, even calling a group of anti-Muslim protesters in Britain more civilised in their approach.
Hence, it is no longer accurate to think of PAS as a fundamentalist party and Umno as moderate. Party strategies are leading them in unexpected directions. Umno's more radical turn is being matched by PAS's attempts at moderation. PAS is aiming for the most unlikely of voters: non-Muslims, who account for 40 per cent of the population and who feel increasingly alienated from the Umno-led ruling coalition.
Umno, meanwhile, is intent on dividing the opposition coalition, of which PAS is a member. Led by former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition made significant gains in last year's general election.
Concerned about its losses, Umno has staked a claim to the defence of Islam. The “cow head” protest, which was led by Umno members, quickly gave way to racially charged manipulation of public sentiment. The formula is simple: portray Islam as being threatened by infidels, and then have Umno ride to the rescue of the besieged Muslim community.
The caning of Kartika, on the other hand, is not an example of political manipulation, and for this reason is perhaps more worrisome. Her sentence was roundly supported by modernist Muslim intellectuals, who insisted that it was justly applied and cannot be questioned because it had divine sanction. These are not politicians but former idealists who are happy that their goal of Islamicising the state is being realised. Most among them are anti-Umno and support PAS.
As a result, Umno finds itself squeezed between an Islamic lobby that presses for greater “Talebanisation” of the country and the rising voices of international critics, who cannot be ignored. The party needs both radical supporters and foreign investors to stay in power.
Balancing these two constituencies is becoming increasingly difficult for Umno. Islamic politics has now taken on a life of its own.
But the opposition too will be forced to figure out the role of religion in Malaysia if ever it gets an opportunity to form the government. Anwar, then a young Islamic radical, asked once: “How does one Islamicise government?”
Now he has to figure out how one governs an Islamicised government. — Straits Times
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